Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

Well, Sandy came and went this week and for the most part we managed to get through okay. Beyond starting to expect intense storms every Halloween, I think we could all stand to kick back and enjoy a beverage or two now that the downpour has stopped. Here are some brews that may just be appropriate for the occasion:

Heavy Seas Winter Storm: I mean, start with the obvious, right? This strong ESB from Baltimore’s Heavy Seas brewery is a malty Ale with focused sharpness of its hops. Winter Storm is crisp enough for autumn weather and just robust enough to take care of you when the temperature drops.

Maui Big Swell IPA: This Hawaiian offering features some of the most popular hops going right now (Columbus, Chinook, Centennial, Simcoe, Citra) but manages to stay short of caricature. Sharp and clean, Big Swell is perfect for post-high tide drinking.

Evil Twin Hop Flood: What? It’s a theme column; I gotta do what I gotta do. This Amber Ale from gypsy brewery Evil Twin is not nearly as overwhelming as its name suggests. In fact, Hop Flood is earthier than it is citrusy or aggressive. It’s a fine beer that can be hard to find but is delicious.

Bell’s Java Stout, Founder’s Breakfast Stout, Southern Tier Jah’Va: These robust dark beers will give you some good coffee notes and help keep you warm after we dive full-stop into winter, which knowing this area should be in the next week or two. The Bell’s Java Stout is for espresso drinkers—intense and earthy. Jah’Va is rich with a fuller mouthfeel and a pronounced coffee bean note. Founder’s Breakfast Stout is an autumn/winter favorite of mine every year, and uses two types of coffee and two types of chocolate along with some oatmeal in the malt bill. If you don’t have the time (or electricity) to make breakfast, you could certainly do worse.

Devils Backbone Long Winter’s Nap: This is a recent arrival but already popular not only with Arrowine customers but myself as well. This brew doesn’t feel anywhere near its 10% ABV, but its smooth feel makes it a deceptively easy treat. This seasonal will put you down for that long winter’s nap if you’re not careful—unless that’s what you’re looking for, of course.

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale: We made it through the hurricane—why not celebrate? Look for this on tap starting this week and on retailer shelves in the next week or two. This Ale is a great way to get your hop fix without going too absurd or overpowering. Many like to age Celebration, but I’m of the mind that fresher is better.

I hope you all came through the storm in good shape, and will see you back here next week.

Cheers!

Nick Anderson maintains a blog at www.beermonger.net, and can be found on Twitter at @The_Beermonger. Sign up for Arrowine’s money saving email offers and free wine and beer tastings at www.arrowine.com/mailing-list-signup.aspx. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

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Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

Autumn is the season of the harvest and with hearty, earthy dishes hitting tables all over the country it stands to reason that breweries would take advantage of the harvest as well. With hop farmers around the U.S. harvesting their crops as summer ends and autumn begins, we’re once again seeing the short but tasty wave of Fresh Hop or Wet Hop Ales. These beers offer a short window for the enthusiast to experience a vibrant, complex hop experience that can be less aggressive than you might assume.

Sierra Nevada is largely credited with bringing the Wet Hop Ale to the public’s attention. Starting in 1996, Sierra has released a so-called Harvest Ale every year, using hops sourced from Washington’s Yakima Valley that are harvested and shipped same-day to their Chico, California brewery. Sierra Harvest Ale was such a hit that a few years back they started making one using fresh hops from New Zealand’s spring harvest. The original was renamed Northern Hemisphere Harvest Ale, and is currently on shelves. Keep an eye out for Sierra’s Estate Harvest Ale as well; arriving soon using fresh hops and barley from Sierra’s own crops at Chico.

Other popular Wet Hop Ales include New Holland Hopivore; Terrapin So Fresh and So Green, Green; and Sixpoint Autumnation, of which the latter two for 2012 will feature the ever-growing in popularity Citra hop. Terrapin’s Fresh Hop Ale is a punchy bass line built to allow the melody of the featured hop to sing out; Sixpoint takes a different and very interesting tack. Autumnation is not only Sixpoint’s Wet Hop Ale; it’s also their Pumpkin Ale. Using fresh pumpkin and ginger every year, Sixpoint leaves the fresh hop varietal to be used up to their fans via a poll. The result is a beer with subtle gourd and spice notes with a lot of hop flavor, but not a ton of aggressive bite.

Here lies the inherent dichotomy of Wet Hop beers; while one might expect fresh hops straight off the vine to be more intense and more biting than the dried hops and pellets commonly used by brewers, but in actuality wet hops aren’t as intense in mouthfeel. Rather, fresh hops tend to impart a greater spectrum of hoppy flavors into a beer with those flavors coming through with greater clarity and subtlety. Even for those who normally aren’t fans of ‘hoppy’ beer, Wet Hop Ales can be a delightful and enjoyable surprise.

That’s not to say there aren’t a couple of hop bombs in the Fresh Hop bunch. Particularly favored by hopheads is Founder’s Harvest Ale, a limited treat that flies off shelves almost as soon as it arrives. Founder’s Harvest has a rich, sweet citrus character to go along with its earthy, piney fresh hop notes. Also worth looking for this season is Warrior IPA from Colorado’s Left Hand Brewing Company. Despite its name, Warrior isn’t the only variety of hop used; there’s a fair amount of Cascade as well along with varieties from Left Hand’s property along with those from local fans of the brewery. Built to be well-balanced and drinkable, Warrior’s 69 IBU (International Bitterness Units) pack quite a punch.

If any of these beers aren’t on shelves in the area as of press time, they will be soon. Ask your local shop or bar for them if you’re curious and get in on the fresh hop phenomenon. Until next time.

Cheers!

Nick Anderson maintains a blog at www.beermonger.net, and can be found on Twitter at @The_Beermonger. Sign up for Arrowine’s money saving email offers and free wine and beer tastings at www.arrowine.com/mailing-list-signup.aspx. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

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Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

Last week (October 11-13) saw the 2012 edition of the Great American Beer Festival happen in Denver, which means two things:

1. Most of the luminaries of the Craft Beer industry were on hand tasting and judging some of the most exciting beers in the country, and

2. I wasn’t there.

I’ll get out to GABF one of these years, but I’ll always kick myself a little for missing this one as I believe we finally saw the breakthrough of DMV-based breweries onto the national scene. DC Brau scored a silver medal in the Belgian and French-Style Ale category for Your Favorite Foreign Movie; a recipe by local homebrewer Brian Barrows that won Meridian Pint’s homebrew competition. Maryland’s DuClaw took silver for their excellent X-1 Porter in the Chocolate Beer category. Falls Church brewpub Mad Fox Brewing Company earned silver in the Bock category with their Elixer Maibock.

Local winners you can snag off the shelf right now include the Bronze winner in the English-Style IPA category, Monumental IPA by Port City Brewing Company and Blue Mountain Barrel House’s Local Species, and bronze winner for Wood and Barrel-Aged Beers. Making the biggest splash this year was Lexington, Virginia’s Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company. Devil’s Backbone came home with nine GABF medals, including Small Brewpub and Small Brewpub Brewer Of The Year (yes, that is the entire name of that one category). Individual beer medals for Devil’s Backbone include:

  • Gold Leaf (bronze, American-Style or International-Style Pils)
  • Danzig (silver, Baltic-Style Porter)
  • Old Virginia Dark (silver, American-Style Dark Lager)
  • Turbo Cougar (bronze, Bock)
  • Berliner Metro Weiss (gold, German-Style Sour)
  • Ramsey’s Export Stout (bronze, Foreign-Style Stout)
  • Ramsey’s Draft Stout (bronze, Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout)
  • Vienna Lager (gold, Vienna-Style Lager)

Unfortunately, out of the winning Devil’s Backbone beers only Vienna Lager is available in bottles, with their Eight Point IPA and Azrael Belgian-Style Blonde also available. All three are excellent, and have been picking up major steam on our shelves over the summer. The style of Devil’s Backbone seems to favor balance over flash, which serves the Vienna Lager especially well—it’s a textbook version of the style, and with the brewery’s close proximity six-packs hit the shelves quicker than most.

Devil’s Backbone is a young brewery, and hopefully the exposure of this GABF performance will eventually translate into more bottling runs for these great beers. There was already demand building; with luck we’ll be seeing much more of Devil’s Backbone beer along with those of all of our local GABF winners into the future.

Did you get to go to GABF? Got a favorite local brew? Let’s hear about it in the comments. Until next time.

Cheers!

Nick Anderson maintains a blog at www.beermonger.net, and can be found on Twitter at @The_Beermonger. Sign up for Arrowine’s money saving email offers and free wine and beer tastings at www.arrowine.com/mailing-list-signup.aspx. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

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Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

I finally got a chance to get back to New York City last weekend after an eight year absence. I make no secret of the fact that I love New York, but not being able to get out of town that often I haven’t had the opportunity to visit some of the beer bars and restaurants that feature craft beer. Having only a couple days in the city, I didn’t get to visit nearly as many places as I’m interested in (those will have to wait for future trips), but here’s a quick rundown of some of the noteworthy stops I got to make and some of the noteworthy beers I got to try while there:

Ginger Man (11 East 36th St): When I’d mentioned that I was heading to New York a few weeks ago on Twitter, the recommendations for Ginger Man started coming in. We weren’t staying very far away, so when it came time to start our Saturday evening festivities, Ginger Man was the natural choice. The ambiance of the room and the obvious selectivity of the beer and whiskey lists can lead one to assume a level of preciousness or pretension from Ginger Man (which in fact was the only knock I’d heard against it before visiting), but the vibe is very laid-back and the staff is extremely down-to-earth. My wife noted how good a job our waitress had been doing without seeming to hover or over-assist; that’s a difficult thing to do.

“Tell me how it is — it just got here and I haven’t gotten to try it yet.” This was the request from our waitress after I ordered my first beer of the evening: a bottle of Evil Twin Aun Mas A Jesus. This latest run of the gypsy brewer’s Even More Jesus Imperial Stout was brewed in Catalunya and at 12% is a rich, port-like Stout that isn’t afraid to clobber the palate with sensation.

My wife started with an Abita Roggen Weizen. From Abita’s Select Series, Roggen Weizen is based on a relatively obscure German style of beer that worked rye malts into a Hefeweizen-style Wheat Ale. The Roggen was spicy and refreshing.

Round two saw us ordering a bottle of The Perfect Crime Hollow Point, a Belgian-style Quad that brought the complexity of a Rochefort 10 without bringing the hurt the Rochefort often brings, while I ordered one of Ginger Man’s two cask offerings; Chelsea Brewing New York State of Mind. This IPA, pulled from a proper cask and crafted right on the island of Manhattan, expressed its New York State hops and smooth malts with a clarity that made me want to stay right where I was and drink it all night. For food, we split a charcuterie plate that we both felt gave us a good amount to work through, and everything was very high quality. Highly recommended.

Rattle ‘N’ Hum (14 East 33rd St): If every craft beer bar were like Rattle ‘N’ Hum, the big brewers would collapse within one week. The open front is inviting, and the public seating is a touch I wish more places would roll their dice on. I started my session with Sixpoint Otis, one of their draft-only selections. A 6% Oatmeal Stout, Otis was my ‘taking a quick break’ beer; my wife wisely opted for the always-enjoyable Charles Wells Bombardier for hers. We quickly struck up a conversation with our table-mates and talked beer and life for the next few hours.

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Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

My wife and I are taking a weekend to visit New York City this weekend. I don’t get out of town often, and haven’t visited NYC in about eight years so it seemed like a good time. Seeing as I won’t be around, I asked Mike Berry from Ommegang Brewery/Duvel USA to fill in for me at the Arrowine tasting table. We’ve hashed out a tasting lineup that I believe reflects Ommegang’s commitment to innovation and pushing craft beer forward.

Founded by Belgian beer importer and aficionado Don Feinberg in 1997, Brewery Ommegang has always been dedicated to producing classic Belgian-style beers with respect for the traditions and ingredients of Belgian brewing. Situated in Cooperstown, NY on what was once a hop farm, Ommegang set about establishing top-notch recipes and introducing Belgian-style beer to parts of America where styles such as Dubbel, Tripel, and Quadrupiel were unheard of.

In 2003, Feinberg sold Brewery Ommegang to Duvel-Moortgat, brewers of… well, Duvel among other beers (Liefman’s, Maredsous, La Chouffe to name a few). This is where Ommegang’s story starts to become really interesting to me: more often than not when a small brewery is bought by a bigger one, they crank the production of the small brewery’s best-known products through the roof in an effort to maximize the profit from their new purchase. This often comes at the expense of the small brewery’s experimenting with new ideas and smaller run beers.

When I first started seeing the classic Ommegang lineup (Hennepin, Three Philosophers, Rare Vos, Abbey Dubbel) on local grocery store shelves, I wasn’t the only beer geek fretting that they’d gone ‘mainstream,’ that we’d never see anything beyond the year-round beers anymore. But that’s not exactly what happened: while the best-known Ommegang beers were now staples at groceries and big chains, a succession of short-run, experimental brews started rolling out. As a fan of Ommegang, it makes me happy to feel like I still have a place in helping their success, and as a beer geek I always look forward to new Ommegang releases.

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Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

Well, it’s finally happened — I’ve hit a writer’s block. I have no idea what I’m going to be writing about this week. We’ve covered most of the seasonal stuff, and gone through style after style of beer. I’ve read over and over how when confronted with a writer’s block, one should simply put their head down and write through it. So that’s what I’m going to do. Here are some thoughts I’ve had while on the job lately:

* Foreign visitors and transplants to the area are always shocked at how few imports I carry. American buyers are more excited about American craft brew than other countries. The exceptions seem to be individual brewers/breweries that carry a following, or certain styles (like Sour Ales) which are very popular right now. I think on some level the spectrum of great beers and divergent styles available to us here in the States has given the American craft beer geek a broader and more open palate that our friends around the world.

* That said, the great microbreweries scattered all over Europe are putting out some of the most exciting stuff out there. It’s too bad most European drinkers seem to be either tied to their macrobrewery of choice, or are too busy arguing pedantically to see that craft beer is passing them by.

* Yes, I can help you with wine. I love my customers and appreciate the recognition I’m known as a beer guy, but I’ve also worked as a wine buyer and for multiple wine importers/distributors in my day. I don’t drink as much wine at home as beer, but I love wine and am passionate about it and do, in fact, possess some knowledge on the subject. Asking only either:

  1. Implies that there’s something wrong with “only” knowing about beer, and…
  2. Completely negates the nearly 10 years I’ve spent working with wine as well as beer.

Are we not, as human beings, allowed multiple interests?

* I’m really excited for holiday season beer releases. More than the fall stuff, even. There are always cool little oddball releases around the holidays and I love seeing what comes in around that time.

* After all these years and all the different styles of beer I’ve gotten into, there’s still a part of me that is a hardcore hophead. When something like Firestone Walker’s Wookey Jack Black Rye IPA comes out, it reminds me all over again what got me into craft beer in the first place: outstanding, earthy, piney, citrusy hoppy goodness.

Okay, well I had some stuff to talk about after all. Until next time.

Cheers!

Nick Anderson maintains a blog at www.beermonger.net, and can be found on Twitter at @The_Beermonger. Sign up for Arrowine’s money saving email offers and free wine and beer tastings at www.arrowine.com/mailing-list-signup.aspx. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

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Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

This past weekend I got to try out a slew of this year’s Pumpkin beers and fall seasonals with my wife’s and my friend Chassie Smith, who keeps a blog called Chassie’s Food And TV (guess what it’s about). A self-proclaimed beer novice, Chassie is a fan of just about all things pumpkin and wanted to get a couple different perspectives on the myriad of Pumpkin Ales on the market. To this end, she brought a few beers over, I brought a few from work, and we tasted them all to see what we liked, what we didn’t, and talk a bit about why one beer worked while another didn’t. For those curious, here are full notes and opinions about the beers we tried:

Blue Moon Caramel Apple Spiced Ale: This new seasonal from MillerCoors’ infamous “faux Craft” label uses apple juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and caramel malts to create a brownish Ale that targets both Pumpkin Ale drinkers and cider fans. Despite my feelings about Blue Moon as an idea and a brand, this wasn’t nearly the awful mess I was expecting: in some ways it’s a pleasant enough fall beer, with the spices popping up on the front palate and apples coming through on the finish. The Spiced Ale may show too much focus-group style compromise, though; not beery enough for beer geeks, and not cidery enough for the cider fans.

Shock Top Pumpkin Wheat Ale: Anheuser-Busch’s Shock Top line is a response to MillerCoors’ efforts to make consumers think they’re drinking a craft beer with Blue Moon. Shock Top’s Pumpkin Wheat is new for 2012, with pumpkin and spices added to the base Belgian-influenced Wheat Ale. Out of the whole lineup, this was the lightest on the palate and weakest in pumpkin/spice character. As a Belgian Wheat Ale, Shock Top is slightly watery and astringent to begin with; this Pumpkin Wheat variant is simply *blah*.

Blue Moon Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale: Remember us talking about Pumpkin Ales and other fall seasonals were arriving so early this year? It’s Harvest Moon’s fault. I started seeing this stuff on retailers’ shelves in July this year, as MillerCoors (smartly, from a business sense) played the odds knowing that folks tend to buy the first seasonal beer they see and then stick to that beer throughout that season. As a beer, Harvest Moon is…ok. It’s a perfectly serviceable Pumpkin Ale, if a little watery feeling. On its own Harvest Moon may have been a pleasant surprise; next to the true Craft Beers that came after it, it was exposed for its muted notes and thinner mouthfeel.

Dogfish Head Punkin’ Ale: One of the first Pumpkin Ales I fell in love with, Dogfish Head’s seasonal offering went through several variations before seeming to settle in about 3-4 years ago. It had been some time since my last Punkin’, so I was curious to see how it was doing. The Dogfish stands out for its malty character, focused spice, and ‘big’ feel on the palate. Punkin’ Ale isn’t my favorite for the season, but it’s a good beer and deserves its popularity.

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Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

This week we’re going to delve into one of my favorite topics: how knowledge of wine can affect your approach to beer, and vice versa. More specifically, what we as beer drinkers (or beer geeks, if you will — that’s how I self-identify, anyway) can take away from wine while at the same time not becoming overwrought with the pretense and snobbery too easily observed in wine (some stereotypes exist for a reason, after all).

About a week ago I read an interesting post on the blog Fuggled. The author had just returned from visiting Virginia’s wine country and overheard some chatter about how beer was becoming the “new wine,” but wouldn’t really be there until breweries and tasting rooms became less industrial and “more like wine.” The author is rightly concerned that the increasing prices of many craft beers and dearth of super high-end “cult” bottles out there will drive beer into a direction far from the communal, everyman beverage it has always been. I’ve myself have been mildly worrying for years about the growth of a cottage beer “tastemaker” industry similar to the one that all too often hobbles those looking to learn more about wine.

In defense of wine, though: more than the “wineification” of beer culture, I fear that those looking to make their name as “palates” when it comes to beer don’t have enough of a wine background to properly analyze what they’re trying. As an avid wine drinker and professional but first and foremost a beer geek, I can’t stress enough the importance of wine knowledge (by which I mean tasting as many as possible and understand why they do/don’t work for you) in literally refining the palate. My boss has a super-sharp focus on brettanomyces and as a wine guy, he understands it as a fundamental flaw in wine. While this means he is in no way a fan of the traditional beer styles that use brett to great effect, it also makes him sensitive to it in beers where it shouldn’t be present. Trying hundreds of wines every month, more than anything else in my opinion, trains you to spot flaws and appreciate the difference between something being “off” and something that is simply “bad.”

I say all of that so I can say this: the day after I read that blog post, I had this conversation on Twitter with The Barley Blog, a fine writer and reviewer of craft beers. He’d just had to dump a beer because of a spoilage or infection issue in the bottle. I offered my sympathies and he responded that he “(c)ouldn’t hang with the off flavors,” that he’d “…tried but just couldn’t do it.” Here, I think, is where beer needs to learn from wine: over on the wine side when we spot a flaw, be it TCA (aka cork taint, aka “corked”), volatile acidity, brettanomyces, or anything else we call it and move on. We don’t stick to the beverage — we acknowledge the flaw and go to the next one. No one wants beer to become as gentrified and provincial as wine is, least of all me. But overlooking fatal flaws in beers for the sake of ‘the old college try’ does no one any favors.

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Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

Much to the chagrin of my wife and most of my friends, I’m a pretty big sports nut, and despite being a long suffering local sports fan there’s no anticipation quite like the feeling right as another pro football season starts. Maybe it’s the intensity of the game or the short schedule compared to other sports, but there’s an edge to the beginning of football season that gets me just a little extra charged up, and I know I’m not alone in that.

Just watching a few minutes of a game lets you know, through the sponsorships and overwhelming number of ads, that macrobreweries are the beverage of choice for the football fan, but that’s not always the case. There are a lot of us who love more than a couple beers during a game (and more often than not before or after one as well), so here’s some recommendations for this season. Enjoy these at your next tailgate or with some great snacks in front of the TV at home.

Devil’s Backbone Striped Bass Pale Ale: Recently released, this special-run Ale from Lexington, VA is a perfect late summer/early autumn beer. Striped Bass Pale is super-clean with a focused, earthy hop character. I hesitated to recommend this as I don’t know how long it’ll be around, but it’s too good not to. Not to mention proceeds go to help out the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Oskar Blues Mama’s Lil’ Yella’ Pils: It’s very easy to get branded as “that guy” when you bring craft beer to a tailgate or a friend’s house for the game. This crisp Pilsner-style from Oskar Blues is a perfect beer to avoid this: essentially one of those beers you see TV ads for, made by someone who gives a damn, Lil’ Yella’ is familiar enough that anybody who snags a can from the cooler can enjoy it, but made to a standard that makes it obviously a craft beer.

Port City Monumental IPA: Alexandria’s Port City Brewery is on a serious roll right now. Their Monumental IPA is well-balanced, with assertive but not overly aggressive hops and a nice malty character. Bring this one out for those who want to try something different but can be overwhelmed by intense hops.

Abita Pecan Harvest Ale: This year’s Pecan Harvest Ale hasn’t arrived yet, but when it does its mix of fine malts and nutty tones makes it a perfect match for pretzels, nuts, chips — you know, all the stuff you put out on the table when you sit down for a Sunday’s worth of action. Abita recently shut down temporarily with Hurricane Isaac bearing down on the Gulf Coast, but hopefully this unique and tasty seasonal Ale will be on one of their first truck out once they’re back up and running.

Founder’s Breakfast Stout: This is a beer that’s back on the market as of this week, but will be around throughout the season and into the playoffs, meaning during the winter where we have many a Sunday matchup played under ‘football weather.’ The combination of chocolates, coffees, and flaked oats in the Founder’s Breakfast Stout give it a bold flavor and while at 8.3% ABV it may seem a bit too strong for some, the feel isn’t nearly as heavy as you might think. This is a great brew for getting your winter grillout going or for taking the edge of a winter chill.

Until next time

Cheers! Also, hail!

Nick Anderson maintains a blog at www.beermonger.net, and can be found on Twitter at @The_Beermonger. Sign up for Arrowine’s money saving email offers and free wine and beer tastings at www.arrowine.com/mailing-list-signup.aspx. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

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Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

Very soon we’re going to have to devote an entire column to the relatively recent phenomenon of the ‘Gypsy Brewer’; beers produced under labels without their own brewery or brewpub. By opting out of the costs associated with owning and running their own facility, Gypsy Brewers are freed to explore their own interests more, and to very quickly turn a passing thought into a product hitting store shelves and bar taps. Some of the most exciting beers being produced today are made by these Gypsy Brewers, and as their ranks and influence grow, so does the importance of the palate and outlook of one Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, the spear’s head of the Gypsy movement and mad genius behind the Mikkeller line of brews.

While working as a math and physics teacher some eight years ago in his native Denmark Bjergsø started to experiment with homebrewing, with the thought that it would be cheaper to drink his own beer than the craft beer he’d been trying and rating for four years beforehand. In 2006, along with fellow homebrewer Kristian Klarup Keller (who later left the business to take an editorial position at the Danish music magazine Soundvenue), Mikkeller beer launched with the aim of bringing the fearless, bold, and imaginative beers found in the American beer scene to the “if it’s cheap, it’s good”-minded Danes. Soon, Mikkel’s inventive beers started finding an audience here in the U.S., and the label took off, along with the idea of the Gypsy Brewer.

With so many beers made under the Mikkeller label and their sometimes scarce production, it’s hard to pick out some to recommend. Some favorites of mine include Beer Geek Breakfast, an Imperial Stout that many of us beer geeks were introduced to Mikkel’s beers through. I’m partial to the yearly release of Jackie Brown Ale as well—its American Brown Ale influence is apparent with a great balance of roasty malts and sharp, yet subtle hops. I Hardcore You, made with Scotland’s BrewDog, is a big IPA that stands up to the baddest hop bombs American breweries have to offer. So far in 2012, we’ve been fortunate to see some great Mikkeller beers for the first time: Czech Pils and Dream Pils, BooGoop (a wheat-malt based Barleywine made in collaboration with the gang at Indiana’s Three Floyds Brewing), Black Hole Stout, and my personal favorite Big Worse Barleywine. Big Worse has the richness and cohesion of flavor you’d expect from a cellared Barleywine, but it’s young and all of those flavors come through with a vibrancy that is simply not possible with an aged beer.

Other Gypsy Brewers have emerged in the wake of Mikkeller’s success — not the least of which being Mikkel’s twin brother Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø whose Evil Twin beers have emerged as bold beer geek favorites; and Baltimore-based Brian Strumke’s Stillwater Artisanal Ales, whom I consider one of the best brewers working in the U.S. today. But it’s the unexpected reach of Mikkeller that has made it all possible for those who are looking for a different path as craft brewers. Those are different stories for another time, however. If you’re in the neighborhood this Saturday, come by to check out a special tasting of new Mikkeller arrivals featuring the beers of his Lambic-style program along with the massive Black Stout. If those aren’t to your liking, we’ve got a great selection of other Mikkeller beers to choose from.

Until next time.

Cheers!

Nick Anderson maintains a blog at www.beermonger.net, and can be found on Twitter at @The_Beermonger. Sign up for Arrowine’s money saving email offers and free wine and beer tastings at www.arrowine.com/mailing-list-signup.aspx. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

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Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)

We’re going to delve into the matter of opinion this week. I read a lot of beer reviews — both professional and on the big aggregator websites — and lately something has been jumping out to me in a lot of them. It seems, reading many accounts of people trying one beer or another, that because the beer wasn’t what they were expecting it was bad or somehow deficient. If possible, I’d like to talk a bit not about beers to seek out, but how we approach beer (and in many ways life in general).

To use a specific example of what I mean: A couple years back Sam Adams and Weihenstephaner announced they were collaborating to produce a new beer. This beer, Infinium, was going to be brewed at Weihenstephaner’s brewery in Germany and was said to promise a breakthrough in German brewing technique, which has faced charges of growing stale in the face of the Reinheitsgebot. Infinium was put out in a champagne-like bottle and the talk began about a “champagne-style” beer from these two breweries. Upon release, the 2010 Infinium was champagne-like in carbonation and mouthfeel, but was decidedly malty — imagine a mild sparkling Barleywine and you’re about there. Reaction was swift and oddly vengeful: all over the ‘net there were angry words being thrown around about how bad Infinium was and how they’d gotten it all wrong.

What I didn’t read a lot of was what specifically was wrong with Infinium. It seemed the entirety of what was wrong with the beer had to do with what it wasn’t rather than anything it was. In conversations with other beer geeks, some rethought their position on the beer and found some stuff they liked about it; others refined their opinions and could find true, relevant criticisms as to why it wasn’t to their palate. When I first tried Infinium, I thought it was interesting but could see the controversy coming as it wasn’t anything that anyone seemed to be expecting. The controversy of the first Infinium release lingers on: the 2011 release was much different, seemingly closer to what many were expecting from that first year, but many didn’t want to pick it up because of their memories of that first year’s release.

When I try any beer, I do my best to keep a ‘blank slate’ approach. In my professional life I have to be able to decide whether a beer will be interesting to my customers without any preconceived notions or preferences getting in the way. While I do the beer buying here at Arrowine and much of what we stock is based upon what I find interesting in the business right now, it’s not all about me. Anyone who is a professional in our business should strive to be the kind of person who can tell you that they don’t prefer the style of beer or wine you enjoy, but still be able to recommend a great one that you’ve never tried.

At home, it is all about me, as it is with you in your home, or at the restaurant or bar you may happen to be at. I’m not here to preach: we’re all entitled to our opinions and if you find a beer disappointing or think it doesn’t live up to what you thought it was going to be, you’ve every right in the world to think so and say so. What I’m saying here (and forgive me if I go a bit too Zen here — I do that), is ask yourself: why be disappointed at all? Examine any expectations you may have and ask yourself where they came from. Are they worth having? Is it worth setting up hoops for a beer to jump through just so you can say you enjoyed it? I’m not asking anyone to lower their expectations for beer — I’m asking everyone to get rid of their expectations altogether.

Reading tasting notes and talking to fellow beer geeks can give you an idea of what a beer might be like, but don’t let that influence your thinking as you try it for yourself. Even if a beer throws you for a loop, adjust; save for the beer having a fundamental flaw, realize that the beer simply isn’t what you thought it was going to be and start the process of considering what it is rather than what you thought it would be. At the end of the day, it’s all still beer — it should be fun. Even if something isn’t the greatest thing ever, it’s still a good beer.

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